


How far we've come

by Kleiner_Ghost



Category: Original Work
Genre: Aliens, Alternate History, Alternate Universe - Military, Far Future, Future, LGBTQ Character, Mild Language, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Outer Space, Space Flight, hints of past abuse, partially in Russian, Русский | Russian
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:53:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 5,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24022402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kleiner_Ghost/pseuds/Kleiner_Ghost
Summary: The year is 3142 since the creation of the United Empire, the place is a debris field somewhere between a purple nebula and a blinking star.Our heroes, or rather protagonists, have barley escaped a fight and are now lost, for lack of a better world, in a sector that was supposed to be deserted.The year was 2015 when Keith was last properly awake. The place was an underground lab or a submarine station, or something among those lines.This is a story of people from different times and different planets who pushed their luck one time too many and who refused to stand down when they should have. Some of them are good, and some of them not so much. What is certain is that the United Empire is worse; and it wants all of them dead.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. Blink

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there, this is my first proper sci-fi story so don't get too mad if I use too much cliches or dont get technical names right. I'm used to writing fantasy and making things up as I go.
> 
> Quick disclaimer : Me English no no sometimes, especially when writing on mobile.
> 
> So enjoy the story and please comment any thoughts, questions, remarks or rants about how my made up aliens look stupid.

Blink.  
The red light went blink.  
Then the universe turned to black.

Blink.  
There had been an explosion.

Blink.  
It hurt.

Blink.  
What if there was nothing out there.

Blink.  
She couldn't move.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.  
She didn't want to move.

Blink.

Blink.  
She wanted to sleep.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.  
She couldn't hear her own heartbeat.

Blink.

Blink.  
Was this what hell was like ?

Blink.  
The red light went blink.  
Only for a second.  
Then the universe turned to black once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there, short chapter, I know. Good thing there's more to come.


	2. The Crew pt.1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there, this is my first proper sci-fi story so don't get too mad if I use too much cliches or dont get technical names right. I'm used to writing fantasy and making things up as I go.  
> Quick disclaimer : Me English no no sometimes, especially when writing on mobile.  
> So enjoy the story and please comment any thoughts, questions, remarks or rants about how my made up aliens look stupid.

Space was unsurprisingly dark despite stars and nebulas and carcasses of ships older than the United Empire littering its every inch with artificial light.  
Captain Oyman, a man in his late forties with a bionic arm that he proudly gained after a failed mutiny, was currently frowning upon the dark field of debris outside his ship. This should have been an empty plot of space. If space were ever empty.

" Lav, double check the jump coordinates." Oyman ordered to his navigator, a Feigris named Lavekrei but who everyone simply called Lav. Her already naturally wide eyes seemed even larger as she fanatically rebooted her sensors and skimmed through log data.

"This is," she was not sure how to phrase this. And to be completely honest with herself, she was not sure what she should say to calm the Human down.

"Those are the coordinates you gave me." She went with the bluntest option.

Oyman pushed Lav's grey silhouette aside and scrolled through the hyperdrive log himself. His frown deepened. He took a step back, and gazed once again into the desolated spectacle before him. Chunks of metal and plastic were floating in all directions. And unfortunately most were too small to navigate around. Lav must have understood that since she had powered all engines off right when they hyperspace. She was now slowly turning everything back on, preparing to manually drive through this mass of debris. 

Oyman looked at his navigator with a sigh. Calling her a pilot would have been an overstatement since the ship hardly ever had it's autopilot turned off. The man sigh again as his sight returned to the vast nothingness surrounding his ship. He was getting too old for this, while his crew was still too young.


	3. The Crew pt.2

Down in the hull, Heven was anxiously pacing about. They had barley escaped those United Empire ships, and now their ship was bearly moving.

"Hey Morren, are the engines fine ?" Heven wondered for the third time in the past ten minutes or so.

His only response was a loud grunt coming from the lower deck; in other words not an unusual response from Morren.

While walking back and forth through the small kitchen, encombred hallway and living area, Heven caught himself thinking about not knocking anything over. Oyman always told him to stand still, and to an extent the Elger got it. He was far from small and his arms could grow blades, but only when he wanted them to. Or when he was panicking, like now. He decided it would be best to stop before he caused trouble. The quadruped was just about to enquire about the engine again, when a turquoise touffe of hair peaked from the engine's room.

"Weapon systems are down. We'll have to get those repaired." Morren pulled themselves out of the hatch leading to the lowest deck. They were a Bugarell, a niche species quite close to humans in morphology apart from the wider range of pigmentation and the fact that they had no concept of biological gender. Morren often switched between pronouns and didn't mind too much when the rest of the world didn't keep up. 

"Should I inform Oyman?" Heven asked. He just wanted to be useful, and was making no effort to hide it.

Morren scratched their messy hair. "Have you healed yourself ?" They asked back. 

Heven looked down, fidgeting with his hands. He had, but he wished he didn't. Rather, he wished he didn't have to teleport onto enemy ships and fight. He wasn't a fighter, he wasn't even good and punching or slicing people. Oyman, or even Lav were way more efficient when given a blaster. But he was Elger, meaning that he had no choice but to fight.

"Should we ask them what's going on ?" Morren stated more than they asked. "The engines are now fixed so we should be able to move at full speed."


	4. Tension

The control deck was filled with unsaid doubts and internalised anger.

Lav had a pretty good idea as to why Oyman was fuming, and she didn't blame him. 

This area was supposed to be deserted. A dead space, as dead as space could be. She wasn't good with metaphors. The coordinates where they exited hyperspace, not even half a dozen kilometres away from where they were now, had been randomly generated by their ship. And Lav had double checked the odds of them flying into a planet or a debris field. Those odd were negligible, virtually zero. And yet, here they were slowly and surely making their way through what probably used to be a colony of some sorts. 

A piece of junk, roughly the size of a small car placed itself right in the ships trajectory. 

"Oh for fucks sake ! Can't we just shoot our way out of here ?" Oyman exclaimed, not able to keep it in anymore.

"I wish we could," Lav's failed at keeping her voice even, "but *someone* got our weapons damaged during that fight we just jumped away from." She turned around to face her captain. "Oh yes, did I mention that bloody fight you got us into, and where we all almost got killed ?" Her face was blank but her voice was full of anger.

Oyman gave her an eye roll.

"I will go and have a look at what can be done." The man finally resigned.

He turned around and was about to take the stairs down to the main deck when two faces, a furry black one and one greener than acid lettuce, popped from behind the door.

"Hi, we're just checking in," Heaven begun timidly.

"Why don't the three of you go check in somewhere else ?" Lav turned around, rising from her chair. 

"Lav, we -" Morren opened their mouth but the pilot didn't let them continue.

"Like the weapons rooms, or the engines, or even the bloody kitchen ? My ship, MY ship, is falling apart and you just sit around causing trouble."

Heaven looked down, avoiding her glaze. She wasn't mad at him personally, he tried to comfort himself.

"Ok. I'll say it. I'm sorry I got you into that fight." Oyman let go of the door handle and fully stepped back into the control room. "I'm sorry that those guys tracked me down. And I'm sorry I got all of you involved."

Morren covered their ears to attempt at shutting away the yelling.

"I'm really fucking sorry! And I'll pay for the repairs and whatnot when we get to a station," he approached lav who involuntarily backed away. "But," his voice was frightfully calm and steady," I'm not the one who got us into *this* mess. I'm not the one who landed us in a debris field. So if you're going to start pointing fingers like a kindergarten child, then so will I."

"Um, " three pairs of eyes turned towards Heaven. " I think you both have a point here, but we should probably settle this when we get to a station ?"

Oyman sigh and pulled away from the pilot, whispering a "sorry" under his breath. Lav turned around and pretended to occupy herself with the console. Heaven, after giving everyone a nervous glance begun walking back downstairs, soon followed by an unusually quiet Morren.


	5. Collision

The three crew members had almost reached the main deck when a muffed "thud", soon followed by a quake, shook the ship.

"Lav!" Oyman let out before rushing back upstairs.


	6. The pod pt.1

Heaven stood in the stairway, unsure of what to do. After a few minutes, Morren silently pushed passed him and disappeared slithered into the vent that led to his room. They hardly ever used the door.

Up on the control deck, the poor Lav was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She had hit something, which in addition to being embarrassing considering the speed of the aircraf, placed her in a very unpleasant position. "If only I were a better pilot" she thought to herself.

"Are you alright?" Oyman had made his way upstairs. "What did you hit?" He continued in his usual tone.

"A pod of some sorts." She rose her grey eyes back to the display panel overlaying the bay window and with a small hand gesture pulled up stats. "That I am sure of." She went back to trying to asses the damage.

The impact happened at the bottom right flank of the ship, just under the medbay, as was shown by a simplistic diagram.

Oyman frowned. "Weapons ?"

"Ours or theirs?" Lav quickly swapped out the battery in her drone control unit. The new device wasn't fully charged, but it was better than nothing.

"Theirs." Oyman took the liberty of pressing a few buttons and assessing their opponent himself. After a minute, he finally spoke again " Huh, it really does look like a pod."

"There could be something useful inside." Lav had finally finished prepping her makeshift weapons; two drones and the remains of their secondary thrusters.

"Well, I doubt a Hull beam or any other weaponry for that matter would fit in a 3 by 2m cylinder, but we might get some fuel."

"Or some biomass for the 02 tanks." Lav added, not powering the "weaponry" down just yet.

"Where are the readings on what's inside ?" Oyman scolded through a list of data that included external temperature, pressure and dust cloud composition.

"We're going in blind. That's half the issue."

"What's the other half." The captain frowned again.

"I don't know what the pod is made of." Lav pulled up another datasheet on the screen and pointed to a circular graph it displayed. Oyman shook it away with a hand gesture. He had no idea what any of that meant.

"Maybe it's some rare metal we could sell." 

"Or maybe it's an experimental bio-weapon from the UE." 

"You're being paranoid. Bring the pod in." Oyman walked back towards the door.

"As you say sir." 

Lav would do as told, but she sure as hell was not going to take responsibility for what the pod could potentially harbor.  
Before leaving the room, Oyman gave a last glance to his worried pilot. It was in Feigris nature to be paranoid, and deep inside he hoped it was just that.


	7. The pod pt.2

Blink.  
Did the light go blink this time ?  
She could see more clearly today.  
Although half of her field of sight was filled with gray metal.  
She had hit something.  
It didn't matter too much.  
The stasis pod would reset soon.  
That's what it did right ?  
Or not.  
Hopefully not.  
It hurt to be awake, but she could bear it if she knew that death would come.

Her universe went black, but the red blinking light never came.  
She realised she had closed her eyes.  
The pod should have reset.  
It should have -  
She should be...

This time, the universe went dark for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there, this is the end of chapter 1. I will post the next chapter sometime this year (hopefully). I do hope that you're enjoying the story so far, because I sure as hell am enjoying writing it. 
> 
> See you soon folks !


	8. Welcome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is finally it, our characters are all about to meet each other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there, quick warning, bits of this chapter are in Russian. I've done it more for dramatic purpose than anything else. Don't feel the need to use google translate, I will translate anything important in the notes at the end of the chapter.

Lav had come to the lower deck and watched nervously as Oyman and Heaven pulled the metal cylinder all the way into their cargo hold. Apart from a small red neon light, the alien surface of the object was immaculate.

"This shit is heavy." The Human complained, letting Heaven do most the work. 

And it was. After a closer inspection, Lav concluded that it was not metal, or at least not any metal she knew. The whole cylinder was coated in some sort of dark substance, with hardly any scratches visible on it. It had either somehow miraculously avoided all interactions with the debris field it previously resided in or the coating was built from a regenerative material. Lav poked the surface and found it to be warmer than she had expected.

"It seems to be adjusting to room temperature." She stated.

Oyman stretched, and his spine made an audible "pop" sound. " Yeah, must be expensive tech in there." 

Heaven had a bad feeling. It was a genetic thing he had once been told; the ability to feel danger and neutralize it before it neutralized you. He was about to voice his concern when the small neon that topped the pod switched on.

" Вы находитесь в присутствии камерой продлительного хранения. В камере содержится биооружие тип-4г. Пожалуйста введите административные данные." A mechanical female voice spoke.

The two men backed away while Lav stared and the pod, fascinated with how foreign the object was. Oyman put his hand over his holster, ready to fire.

"При нахождении себя в радиусе 20-150 м от биооружия типа-4г, вы ставите себя под угрозой. Пожалуйста покиньте опасную зону или введите административные данные." The mechanical voice continued.

"I think it wants us to do something." Lav said, eyes and mouth wide open. "I'm not sure what,"

"Don't touch it !" Heaven reached out but it was already too late. Lav had pressed her grey palm against the cold alloy.

"Talk to me baby." She whispered to the device.

"Lav, I think you better-" Oyman was cut short but the mechanical voice.

"Генетический след не признан. Поиск ближайшего аналога." The light turned blue and Lav instantly let go of the pod, leaping back behind Heaven.

"That's bad. That's very bad." Heathen muttered and took a defensive stand. He glanced at Oyman but was only met with eyes as full of fear as his own.

"On my mark," the captain raised three fingers.

"Three." 

"Two."

The light turned to yellow. Heathen pushed Lav assure and Oyman aimed his pistol.

"Кинетический аналог на планете земля не найден. Повторить поиск с расширенной космической базой данных ?" It asked.

"It's not attacking." Heathen stated.

"Maybe it wants me to touch it again ?" Lav peaked from behind a conveniently placed box.

"Stay where you are." Oyman wasn't sure what the pod wanted, but he had a feeling it might respond better to a Human. Most UE tech did.

He put his pistol away and cautiously approached the pod. The yellow light was still on.

"Here goes nothing." He pushed his flesh hand against the smooth shimmering surface.

For a second, as everyone in the room held their breath, nothing happened. Then, the light switches form yellow to blue and from blue to green.

" Хомо сапиенс сапиенс , человек разумный. Генетический аналог найден. При отсутствии административных данных протокол 85-а активируется автоматически. Приготовьте оружие и отойдите на безопасное расстояние."

"What is it saying ? Can we open the pod now ?" Lav asked still half hidden behind her cargo box.

"Hot the hell am I supposed to know what it's saying ?" Oyman snapped, pulling his hand away.

"Для безопасного открытия камеры продлительного хранения, необходимо отойти как минимум на 2 м и приготовить оружие."  
Oyman cautiously took a step back. "You're good with tech, Lav, figure out what it wants."

The green light begun blinking.

"При активации протокола 85-а, процесс разморозки автоматически начался. У вас осталось 143 секунды чтобы отойти на безопасное расстояние и приготовить оружие."

"143 ! It said 143 something." Heaven exclaimed. "And 83 something and I think it said 4 before that". He added quietly, looking away.

"You can understand it ?" Oyman would have yelled if he didn't fear for his safety and the ship's integrity.

"I, ... Just the numbers. And some pronouns and articles. The accent is very thick and I wasn't sure at first," he trailed of. 

"So what does it want ? " Lav asked impatiently.

"У вас осталось 90 секунд чтобы отойти на безопасное расстояние и приготовить оружие."

For a moment the room remained silent as Heaven focused on remembering what little he had learned in his ancient Russian classes. He once aspired to be an interpreter. He now aspired not to die because of his ignorance.

" We have 90 something to take distance and weapons ?"

"90 seconds. It went from 140 to 90. Fuck." In the blink of an eye Lav had ran halfway through the cargo bay and pulled out a handgun from God knows where. She aimed it at the pod and Oyman did the same with his pistol. Heaven straighted up, extending his top limbs forwards. He didn't release the blades just yet. He hoped that the fight could be avoided.

" У вас осталось 15 секунд чтобы отойти на безопасное расстояние и приготовить оружие." 

"Go back." Lav shood her captain.

Oyman took a few steps back just as the pod begun emitting clicking sounds. The light turned white and a dull squeak that reassembled unloading hydraulic pistons way too much came from within the pod. The noises of mechanisms being disarmed continued for a good minute or so.

The two gunsman were more ready than ever while a drop of cold sweat lost itself within Heaven's fur. This did not sound good.

Finally, the clicking, grincing and squeaking noises stopped. And then three things happened almost simultaneously. A pained whine came from within the pod almost immediately followed by a dull thud as the dark front panel of the cylinder begun to lighten up to allow for a silhouette to materialize within.

Heaven gasped and Lav switched off the security guard of her weapon.  
"We need to help them." Heaven turned towards his companions. For a second, he was horrified by Oyman's cold and calculating expression. Those eyes held a dark spark that Heaven had seen too often. Bloodlust. 

After an eternity filled with tense silence, Lav finally spoke.

" You do that, and I'll cover you it the need comes." 

Oyman moved further back, leaving space for the Elger to access the mysterious object.

Steadying his steps as much as he could, Heaven moved in front of the pod and placed a shaky hand onto the metal. The mechanical voice remained silent. The front panel begun to move sideways as thick smoke, scented of dried blood and sodium hypochlorite, escaped the container. Never in his life had Heaven hoped to be more wrong about anything, because right now all his senses were telling him to run away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there, did you enjoy this longer chapter ?  
> So about the Russian bits, I can speak Russian but I can't spell properly to save my life (in English too tbh). So if I did make any mistakes please do point it out in the comments.  
> Now translation whise, you the pod said that it contained a bioweapon type 4g. It didn't recognize Lav's genetic signature, but it did recognize Oyman's. Then it started a countdown.  
> there you go, hope this chapter wasn't too confusing.


	9. Freedom

When back when, Keith had come up with a speech she'd hold is she was ever to be murdered. She soon afterwards realized that she might not have the time for a speech if she were to get stabbed to death but, if someone were to execute her then she might get a chance. So 17 year old Keith came up with a speech. She had of course improved on in in the following years but her base ideas always stayed the same. Nation, loyalty, lesser evil.

Now, she finally felt as if the time had come. She heard from inside the pod the distant countdown and mandatory warnings her pod broadcasted. She braced herself for one of two things. Either the guys on the other side finally got a warrant from the ethics committee to execute her or, they were waking her up in an attempt to ally her to their cause. Either way she wouldn't have any of it.

The pistons that pierced her limbs and held her fused to the pod finally pulled away. She cried out and almost wished they didn't. Almost. She struggled to stand upright. None of her battle injuries have healed and the four holes going through her legs did not help the issue. She bit her lip. She will have to stay upright for her speech. Then she could collapse on the floor. But only then. Plus, she attempted to look at the bright side, with that many open wounds she would bleed out and thus get those chemicals out of her system faster.

The countdown warned her that she had 15 seconds remaining before the grand opening. She shut her eyes. "Power nap, as they call it." She though.

The impulse resulting from whatever machinery being unplugged from her spine projected Keith onto the front panel that soon enough began sliding away. Keith straightened herself as much as she could.

"Now is the one time in my life I need to make a good impression." She though as the panel slid all the way open, allowing for her stagnant micro-atmosphere to mix with that of the surrounding room. 

With her eyes still closed, Keith took a deep breath in. Filtered air. She could taste it. Fuckers. She probably was on a submarine again. She took another breath in, opened her eyes and stepped out of the pod.


	10. Out

As the smoke continued to pour out of the pod, Heaven had to focus on maintaining his blades retracted. He was now sensing danger from both fronts, the pod and its resident (s?) and his crew members behind him. He didn't know what was worse.

He could see a humanoid figure leaning against the moving door. Although they were only a few centimeters away from him, he still couldn't make out any features because of the billowing smoke.

Finally, the door slid all the way back, and the wall of smoke dropped to the floor. It formed a carpet over the docking bay, leaving an uncanny feeling within all three people.

For a second, the figure did not move, giving Heaven enough time to examine them. The only detail he did notice before getting overwhelmed by the amount of open wounds and blood was that they were human. The figure took a deep breath in and Heaven backed away, blades on the verge of release. Then the figure opened their eyes. They were of a dull brown, as if several layers of plastic film were wrapped over them.

The figure stepped forward and Oyman fired his gun.


	11. Keith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heya there, remember that time I said there will be more text in Russian ? a short recap of what Keith was on about is at the end of this chapter.

"В следующий раз стреляйте в голову." Keith stumbled forward and struggled to stay upright. At this point the pulsing pain in her leg became nothing more than background noise to which an extra bullet added nothing. But, the woman knew that at some point her muscles and bones would give in. Hopefully, that was going to happen after her speech.

She assessed her audience; a huge chimera, a mix between a lion and a human, a grey water hag with a machine gun and the trigger happy grandpa. The chimera was definitely a bioweapon of sorts, and a disposable one at that since noone bothered to give them a gun. The hag might have just been a human with questionable fashion choices if not for those huge eyes that reflected the universe within. "Fuck," Keith realized. She was getting poetic which meant she was about to pass out.

"И так, дамы и господа, и вы дорогой - дорогое существо." She gestured towards the alarmed and quite confused Heaven.

"Начну я свой рассказ сначала. В 15 веке, в маленькой вилли где-то под Венной, жил ученый с фамилией Франкенштейн. Вы скорее всего о нём читали. Пол книжки брехня, но запомнить можно следующее : наш дорогой друг Виктор изменил современные понятие о микробиологии и генетики навсегда."

"Потом, в наступающих столетиях, произошло куча всего другого интересного. Философский камень, алхимия, первый полёт в космос," She trailed of. "это ещё до Амстронга." she quickly clarified.  
"Ну и т.д. и т.п., интересная часть нашего рассказа начинается после окончания второй мировой. Человечество, точнее та часть человечества которая не жила в тенях все эти годы, наконец-то догнала техпродвижэность тридцать-седьмого параллелья.

"Конечно алхимией, волшебством, и межзвездными путешествиями они ещё не занимались, ну мы все прекрасно понимали что достаточно скоро они этим займутся. Проблема в том что никто правителем "свободной земли" не доверял. Поэтому эт-коммы подписали пару бумаг и отправили своих людей по больницам, искать людей чья группа крови совместимо с какой-то биологической хернёй."

"эт-коммы это члены этического комитета." She clarified again.

" В больнице номер шесть города Ленинграда они нашли меня"

Keith took a break to breath in. Talking was much more effort that she thought, and to make it worse her public was utterly unresponsive. The grey lady ( Keith decided to stop being rude and calling her a hag) had lowered her gun and the chimera looked more concerned than agressive. Although Keith was not certain as to how accurate her judgement of that fur covered face was. The man still held her at gun point. She took another deep breath and continued.

" Я в психушку после диггеров попала." She decided to clarify so they won't think of her as crazy.

"Ну вот нашли меня, под столом передали чемоданчик родителям, и я начала работать с ними."

The world begun to twirl a bit arround the edges and Keith's vision voided with black dots. She decided to skip the middle bit of her speech.

"Простите что я пропущу середину рассказа, но меня как-то нехорошо. В общем прошло еще десять лет, и я спецагентом стала, о чём вы скорее всего и так уже всё знаете. Берлин, Небраска, Гибралтар, в Харпе под Уралом,... Питер это не я. Ну так, просто в скобочках.

"Да ворогов было много, но эт-коммам нравились наши результаты. За 4 дня до полёта в Ирак, получаю звонок. Голос говорит берегитесь и прятьчесь, Клау наконец-то от штатов деньги получил. Ну яб с большого ума, взяла у Димы автомат, патрон прикарманила, ... а продолжение вы уже сами знаете."

She made a hand gesture to encompass the room. The man was about to shoot but grey lady stopped him. Keith didn't skip the middle bit. Her time was running out. She momentarily considered leaning against something, but when the chimera came closer, offering an arm, she politely gestured him away.

" Ладно, ладно, я это всё к чему." That was an excellent question. Keith didn't really know herself.

"Рано или поздно, вы, дорогой товарищ, меня пристрелите. Но, и слушайте внимательно, и услыште главное; толку от этого никакого не будет. Потому что за последние 15 лет, ну ладно 10 не буду врать, Я и моя дивизия принесли этой планете больше толку чем вы и ваши законные спецслужбы.

Her vision went black. And the public remained still silent.

" Проект тридцать седьмой параллель, он превосходит и вашу первую и вторую мировую, и холодную войну, и Японию, и Иран и Ирак. Знаете, дорогой товарищ с пистолетом, что после меня придут другие. И мы не дадим вам повторять ошибки человечества снова и снова. Мы не дадим вам схемы наших самолётов, мы не дадим вам рецепт к вечной жизни, мы не дадим возможность покинуть эту планету и взлететь в космос, мы !"

Suddenly the air felt very heavy, and the floor looked so, so soft. Her legs gave in, and her mind drifted away. She felt something warm against her back. She tried to breath in but it was as if she were underwater. Under a thick, warm, and darker than night lake, just like the one in Kharp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically, Keith's giving the backstory of how she ended up where she is. This is where the alternate history tag comes into play.  
> Back in the early 15th century, a bloke named Frankenstein did manage to resurrect another bloke. Shortly afterwards, magic and alchemy also became a widespread thing. To protect the general population from both science and magic taken to extremes, an organization named the 37th parallel was created.  
> The latter continued to operate in the shadows all the way up to the 20th century where it risked exposure during WW2. The officials were afraid that the “normal” world would catch up to their level of technology, so they begun more radical human experiments. They were recruiting/kidnapping people from hospitals and birth clinics.  
> In the early 2000’s Keith was a t a psychiatric facility, for reasons she did not disclose, and the 37th parallel made her an offer.
> 
> other side notes:  
> Kharp is a prison in Siberia.  
> Keith will not be carry on talking in Russian like that, I promise.


	12. An unwanted visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The same chapter as before, only form Heaven's POV.

Heaven had spawn his blades as soon as the shot was fired. The figure, however, did not move. Despite the newly bleeding bullet wound in their leg, and the multitude of other growing spots of blood, the silhouette stood surprisingly still. They looked around the room, first at Heaven, then at Lav then at Oyman. They said something, not loud enough to understand, but loud enough to recognise as ancient Russian.

Then that aura of danger and spikes that Heaven had been perceiving this whole time vanished.

He couldn't believe it.

The Human began talking. She, for now Heaven was quite sure they were a she, was going on and on, making dramatic pauses here and there. He caught a few stray words, but nothing consistent. Nothing that made sense. The tone she used was surprisingly arrogant. Similar to how his uni professors usually explained his mistakes to Heaven. That was not the tone of someone who feared for their lives, but it didn't sound as if she was about to attack them either. 

It sounded as if she was telling a story. 

At some point, Lav lowered her gun.

The Human stopped talking. She also stopped pacing about like she was doing up until now. She rubbed her eyes and extended an arm as if to stabilise herself against something. Then she looked around once more and carried on talking. 

Heaven was growing more and more concerned as that Human went on and on, telling tales in a language long forgotten. None of her wounds looked lethal, but the ever-growing inky red spots, two small ones in each limb and five larger ones, probably resulting from bullets, worried the Elger. It was hard to asses internal damage because of the baggy uniform she wore. And Heaven wasn't sure if her face was bruised under that crust of blood and greyish dirt.

"Um." He attempted to interrupt her.

She stumbled back before regaining her balance. He offered a hand but she dismissed it with a gesture that looked more like a polite "no tank you" than the usual "don't touch me, monster."  
As she carried on talking, Lav made her way towards the pod. The pilot now stood next to Oyman, cautiously examining the containment chamber. 

The tone of the Human shifted. It sounded more sour. She was now exclusive talking to Oyman. Her voice was growing louder and the captain's pistol rose towards her head.

Then, as she suddenly fell backwards. Heaven rushed in just in time to intercept her body from lumping onto the floor.


	13. An unwelcomed guest

"What are we going to do with her ?" Oyman wondered out loud. 

"Aren't you the captain ?" Lav exclaimed, still busy examining the pod downstairs.

Heaven had already begun making his way toward the medbay, carrying what he hopped to be an unconscious body and not a corpse.

"We need to restrain her." Oyman soon followed the other man.

"No we don't." 

"Yes we do Heaven. She's clearly dangerous."

Heaven looked at Lav for support but the woman looked away.

"I'm with the Captain on this one. This thing was clearly built to keep her, or that," she gestured towards the body, "in. Whoever built this went to great lengths, with the DNA lock and everything."  
Oyman gave his pilot an approving smile and was about to speak again but the woman interrupted him.

"But. But. She might have gone through - it might have gone through - the same shit Morren did. Like I can't even tell if it's human or not under all that blood."

"So we're calling her an it now ?" Heaven squeezed the body tighter against his chest before quickly loosening the grip. He did not want to bear responsibility for her potential untimely death.

"Just cuff her to the bed and give her some sedatives, after the mebay works its magic." Oyman shook his head. Lav had a point, but he was not willing to take the risk. He was going to leave the issue at that, but he saw Heaven on the verge of protesting so he added : "and that's an order."

Heaven open his mouth, then shut it and begun heading upstairs, towards the medbay.


	14. A break

Oyman leaned against a wall and let out a long sigh. This day did not go as expected. Not even in the slightest.

"I think I can scavenge a lot of this tech. Not 100% how it works though." Lav was still examining the opened pod. " That's of course given we're not putting it back in." She turned towards the man.

"No we're not." Oyman slipped his flesh hand into his pocket in an attempt to hide it's spasms. He examined his metal arm for a while, as if there was nothing else in the universe apart form him and the elegantly crafted piece of aluminium alloy. He then took a deep breath in and silently walked out of the docking bay, heading towards his chamber.

Lav was thus left alone with the still opened pod.


	15. Scientific curiosity

It started out as scientific curiosity, but it grew to become a heavy mixture of paranoia and eeriness. 

After Lav had ran up to her bedroom and brought down a few tools, she spent over two hours trying to dismantle the pod. She had originally wanted to run some tests on the alloys it was built from. Those metals could either be reused to patch up her little Oorlog, or she could resell them at the next spaceport. 

However, during those two hours she did not manage to detach a single piece from the pod. To make things worse, she didn't even figure out how to operate the door and locking mechanism since that mechanical voice did not recognize her touch.

"Should have gone into AI engineering just like child me had wanted." She thought out loud. "But no, stupid uncle Zvei and his promises of space travel." She leaned into the pod. "You just had to give me your ship and go missing, didn't you?" A small tear formed at the edge of her eye. "And you stupid fuck," she hit the pod for good measure, " why won't you talk to me ? Huh ? Why am I not good enough for you ?" 

Lav got up and gave the metal cylinder a good kick. She didn't care how sore her foot felt afterwards.

" You do realize that is a solid chunk of metal and you're more likely to hurt yourself than to 'hurt' it ?" A voice came from the unique staircase.

"When did you get here ?" Lav turned around to face Morren sitting on the steps.

"I brought you tea." They offered.

Lav nodded and accepted the drink. She wasn't particularly thirsty but she couldn't say no to a free gift. She sat silently next to the green haired kid, sipping her drink.

"So where were you this whole time ? You missed a thing or two." She spoke when her cup got half-empty.

Morren shook their shoulders. 

Lav let out a sigh. "I know you can talk boy."

Morren stared at the empty mug in his hands. Lav had been consistently calling them a boy since he joined the ship. They didn't mind before, and they thought they shouldn't mind now. But with Lav it was different. The two had traveled together for over a year, and she was well aware of how Morren preferred to be called. They. If people couldn't remember, or didn't want to ask, Morren always told them to use 'they'.

"Oyman wants you back on deck in an hour." Morren finally spoke.

"I'm not done here." Lav put her mug on the staircase and headed back towards the pod. She tried to reassure herself that what she was feeling was scientific curiosity. But that idea, that weariness of the unknown never left her mind.

"And we'll all be done for if the UE catches up to us. So get us out of this death trap and get us into hyperspace. I will have a look at that thing in the meanwhile."

Lav gave the pod a final pat and headed upstairs. They were right. Both Oyman and the unusually talkative Morren. They needed to get out of here because the Empire wouldn't stop until they caught their ship. 

Lav stopped halfway up the second flight of stairs and looked back towards the open door leading to her docking bay. For a moment, she tried to recall when or even if Morren had spoken that much in a single evening. A digital screen in her console room reminded Lav that it was just over 4pm. She shook her head. The past day, or 30 hours to be precise, had been overly lenghty.


End file.
